Welcome to the StatusCast blog! In the coming weeks, we’ll be highlighting many of the application performance management (APM), communication, and other software tools that StatusCast allows you to integrate with your hosted status pages. If you don’t see your preferred solution among these posts, please contact us and ask – chances are good that either A) the integration already exists and we just haven’t written about it yet or B) we will be able to build the integration for you in short order.

The purpose of a hosted status page is to inform users when your software is experiencing performance issues (and to remind them that you have a long history with minimal disruption, despite the current inconvenience). By integrating your hosted status pages with your APM, you ensure that your users find out that there are issues with the application from you, rather than discover that frustratedly on their own.

The StatusCast team has worked in the SaaS world for over a decade and as a result, we understand that this kind of unfiltered, real-time updating is not appropriate for every hosted application. StatusCast has been designed to accommodate rules-based automation (informed by APM data) and manual communication (i.e. no message goes out automatically), in addition to unfiltered, real-time updates.

Why Integrate Your Hosted Status Pages with Communication Tools?

The content of your updates are informed by your APM, but the delivery mechanisms are informed by what’s most convenient for your end users. A hosted status page is valuable for individuals who remember to check it, but for the average user, you will be more likely to reduce frustration caused by service disruption if you allow them to subscribe to updates via their preferred communication method. These might include (but are not limited to) a social media post, email, or text message (SMS), for example.

Customers respect and appreciate a business that is transparent, accountable, and dedicated to making things more convenient for its customers. This makes the business seem more like a proud provider of genuine value than another off-putting example of the stereotype of the exploitative used car salesman.

But Why “Integrate” Hosted Status Pages?

“Integrate” does not mean “use simultaneously”; it’s more than that. Integrating your hosted status pages with other software tools allows you to do two things: 1) easily pass information between systems, so you don’t have to copy + paste or worse: recreate from scratch 2) automate, so you only have to set something up once and can trust it to function as designed every subsequent time

The difference between non-integrated and integrated systems is like the difference between mailing a check for your phone or utility bill on time every month vs. setting up an account with auto-payment or one-click payment that can be confirmed, scheduled, and/or updated from any device.